The Red team’s Gabe Ervin (22) runs the ball while being pursued by White team’s Phalen Sanford in the second half of the Red-White Spring Game on May 1 at Memorial Stadium.
As the countdown to the beginning of Nebraska’s preseason camp continues, the Journal Star is counting down its annual list of the 30 Most Intriguing Huskers.
The list, as always, is not about the 30 best players or the 30 most important players, but is based instead purely on intrigue. We’ll cover breakout candidates, new faces, old heads and more. The list tends to skew toward youth and inexperience because, well, those types of players are intriguing. But there are more than a few regulars, too.
No. 11: Gabe Ervin Jr., running back, freshman
Nebraska’s running back picture is a bit of a jumble heading into preseason camp. Position coach Ryan Held has made no bones about it, saying he needs two or three guys to step up and lead a pack of six scholarship players with a sum total of 53 carries at Nebraska (all split between Rahmir Johnson and Marvin Scott III). Held and the Nebraska staff weren’t showing their cards this spring, either.
The question that keeps coming up, though, is if perhaps Ervin is already making a run at being the top of the pack. Some of that will depend on the health of USC transfer Markese Stepp, who missed nearly all of the spring due to foot surgery, but Ervin certainly impressed in his first five weeks in pads for the Huskers.
The Georgia native has size at 6-foot-1 and 190 pounds, good balance and showed some burst in limited open sessions, participated in most of spring ball except for a couple of practices due to a minor ankle injury, and drew praise for the way in which he went about his work.
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